Its the first time I have cut bamboo for trim work. I read on another thread that putting tape over the cut area, before cutting, helps keep the skin of the bamboo from shredding. Since I had a lot of Duct Tape I gave it a try.

It worked really well and I left it on after the first cut in case I needed to take a little more off.

I knew the PNG mask was going to be too big to fit into the space. I thought I would run the trim around the mask but it looked just as good running the trim through the mask.

The only thing I have left to do is some router carving on wood strips to cover the gap at the top and bottom of the black bamboo.

In the meantime I am adding Lauhala matting to the wall with the natural bamboo.

Next I need to put reed on this ceiling and Nipa Thatch is going over the drywall that covers the air ducts.

_________________"People are like islands. You have to get close to them to know what they are about."
~ Adam Troy

This is the other ceiling that is in the room with the tiki bar. I can't believe what a difference it makes to paint the ceiling a color that is close to the bamboo reed. It really hides the gaps and makes it look fuller than it is.

Here is what it looks like close up and in bright light but from a distance and in lower light you can't see the gaps.

This room was more of a challenge since the width of the room is more than 12 feet. I couldn't use two 6ft sections so I had to do it in three sections.

Here I'm matching the color to the Nipa thatch

This area I need to tackle next.

_________________"People are like islands. You have to get close to them to know what they are about."
~ Adam Troy

For the longest time I've been trying to decide what to put on the dry wall that covers the air ducts. I'm putting thatch on the sides but the underside has been a challenge.

I thought about painting it with a stencil to look like tapa cloth or just covering it with burlap.

Then I ran across these three pieces of tapa cloth.

For now they are temporarily nailed but I think I'll glue them to foam board as well as surround them with small lauhala matting. I'll glue the matting to separate foam boards and then use screws to attach the boards to the ceiling. I'm always thinking about what I'll need to do if I ever move. I think this will make it easy to remove the tapa and matting. I'll post some pictures when I figure this out. Any other ideas on how to hang these?

_________________"People are like islands. You have to get close to them to know what they are about."
~ Adam Troy